Everything Everywhere All at Once made me cry

Q: Is Everything Everywhere All at Once a mother daughter movie?

A24s newest film, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” stars Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu, showcasing a tense mother-daughter relationship between the two characters under a sci-fi lens.

If you like drama, comedy and confusion, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is the film for you. This movie makes you question everything more than once and then cry when you think the questions are solved.

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Does Everything Everywhere All at Once make you cry?
What is the message of Everything Everywhere All at Once?
Is Everything Everywhere All at Once a mother daughter movie?
Will my parents like Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Synopsis

When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero must channel powers she never knew she had to fight bizarre dangers from the multiverse, all while the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

What I loved

The visual effects throughout the film were stunning. There are a lot of movies that use split screens and fast-paced scene changes that really miss the mark, but this film sells it. From switching to different realities to crazy fight scenes, this movie visually stands out from the rest.

This movie truly gives you that "aha" moment. Throughout this film, everything seems so interesting, but you kind of wonder where it is all leading to. Then, at the end, it hits you like a truck (and it made me cry). After the movie, I was like, “Wow, everything connects back" (and then the title truly made sense).

What I didn't love

I would love this film so much more if the entire film wasn't filled with so many outrageous comedy bits. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of shock comedy, but when you use it too much it becomes unfunny. I felt like this movie overused that trope, and it lost a lot of its likeability for me.

Also, the explanations in the film were too fast, going from our main character knowing nothing to everything in .02 seconds. I could keep up with it, and I feel like it's meant to be chaotic, but trying to make sense of everything at triple speed is hard. I feel like when you find yourself thinking too hard about how things make sense, or even how they work, it draws you away from the plot of the movie.

Verdict

I loved the story of this film but not all of the elements inside it. I just wish I enjoyed the comedy element in this movie as much as I liked the plot. If you like fast-paced shock comedy films with a good story, then you’ll like this film.

I give "Everything Everywhere All at Once" a 3.5 out of 5.

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To put it succinctly, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is simultaneously overwhelming and lacking in substance.

We’d heard a lot about this film. Some people told us they cried for hours, others told us it changed their lives. So on a Sunday night, we showed up at a Skokie movie theater to see it for ourselves.

After not shedding a single tear among the four of us, we walked around in a dimly lit parking lot for half an hour in a bit of a crisis, wondering if we were emotionally numb. But after some discussion, we think the problem lies in the movie.

The dramedy centers around Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh), whose typical first-generation immigrant story completely implodes into a fantastical, high-stakes fight against world-ending destruction. When she and her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) visit the Internal Revenue Service for an audit of their laundromat business, she discovers the world exists in a multiverse rapidly being consumed by an immensely powerful alternate version of her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) named Jobu Tupaki.

What follows is two-plus hours of multiversal leaps, intricately choreographed fights and familial reconciliations — but not a lot of heart. Despite stellar acting, the characters are shaky and we didn’t particularly connect to any of them. That extends into how we feel about the rest of the film.

The visuals are undeniably stunning, featuring brilliant action sequences and seamless transitions between reality and fantasy. But in its quest for captivating scenes, EEAAO abandons the plot. What could have been a strong narrative quickly becomes a distressing compilation of tearful moments, piñatas hanging from trees and a random raccoon who cooks.

The filmmakers place scenes meant to be heart-wrenching into broader sequences featuring apocalyptic bagels and hot dog fingers. Had these scenes been longer or less oddly situated, we might have cried, but it’s hard to shed a tear when said scenes are interrupted by a montage of rocks with googly eyes slowly shuffling around a cliff face.

In other words, this movie throws everything everywhere, all at once, at the viewer. And it becomes a little too much at times.

But the main reason this movie is so upsetting is its performative representation. Hollywood rarely features Asian American stories, so we felt excited by themes like the parental pressure to succeed, the disapproval of same-sex relationships and the mental health crisis among Asian American youth. The film also supposedly covers issues first-generation immigrants face like navigating U.S. taxes, keeping a self-sustaining business afloat and expressing love through language barriers.

But even with the representation of issues Asian American families face, the movie did not portray them in a way that felt unique or insightful. Whether we’ve seen or lived these issues before, EEAAO didn’t take an especially refined approach to themes like assimilating to U.S. culture.

Fellow peers told us about how excited they were to see themselves represented on the big screen, but these communities deserve better than half-established plot lines. It’s no longer good enough for Hollywood to merely further its diversity initiatives through actors who share the same identities. It’s time for them to actually spotlight the issues marginalized people struggle against with care and nuance.

We get what EEAAO was trying to do. Or at least we think we do. Those crazy montages were an attempt at absurdism, and the movie didn’t take those sequences too seriously to the point where they came across cringey. The multiverse is a cool strategy to convey the movie’s nihilistic themes. But it’s a confusing approach, which ultimately lacks the appropriate levels of care for the communities it tries to represent.

Does Everything Everywhere All at Once make you cry?

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen in my life. It's incredibly complex and original. It made me laugh, cry and everything in between.

What is the message of Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Though never expressly stated, Everything Everywhere All At Once suggests that what makes life meaningful is the recognition that because there is no inherent meaning, all things and moments are equally meaningful.

Is Everything Everywhere All at Once a mother daughter movie?

A24's newest film, “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” stars Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu, showcasing a tense mother-daughter relationship between the two characters under a sci-fi lens.

Will my parents like Everything Everywhere All at Once?

Everything Everywhere All at Once is rated R by the MPAA Some violence, sexual material and language. Violence: Characters are injured and killed in scenes of martial arts violence. A character is shot, and another is stabbed.